Commissioning external residential placements

All questions below relate to the financial year 2024/25 (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025).

1) The name, job title and work email of (a) the senior officer responsible for commissioning external residential placements for looked-after children, and (b) the officer who matches individual children to placements.

2) The mean and highest weekly fee paid for external residential placements that were solo (one child only) with 2:1 staffing 24 hours a day.

3) The mean and highest weekly fee paid for the subset of those placements that were also subject to a Deprivation of Liberty authorisation (DOLS).

4) The percentage of external residential placements commissioned via framework or Dynamic Purchasing System versus spot purchase off-framework.

5) The typical weekly fee uplift paid for 1:1 tutoring and for psychiatry / psychology when these are added to a residential placement.

1. Commissioning of residential placements for Children-in-Care is undertaken using an Open Select List and is conducted by the LCCPlacements team (LCCPlacements@lincolnshire.gov.uk). The Officer responsible for overseeing the process may differ from time to time. More information about the Open Select List can be found at: Children’s Commissioning – Professional resources. To contact the Children’s Commissioning team, please use Childrens_commissioning@lincolnshire.gov.uk

2.

£23,362 Highest

£20,921 Mean

3. Information in relation to DOLS is not available or recorded systematically in alliance with the data on costs and external placements. To undertake relevant research into individual records would take more than the requisite 18 hours permitted under the Act.

4. All external placements are commissioned via the Open Select List. Please see response to question 1 above for more details.

5. These costs are not normally reviewed separately but are presented as part of the cost following a search linked to a referral form outlining the needs of the individual child. All aspects of the requirement are included within the cost. Such costs are not recorded separately.